Phone importers to appeal revocations
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Falsified test documents to result in retroactive cancellations for 280 models
Major local mobile-phone retailers will appeal against the plan of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to revoke approvals granted to 27 companies over the past three years for imports of more than 280 handset models.
The NBTC found that documents supposedly attesting that some handsets had been tested by authorised foreign laboratories to qualify for import permits may have been fake.
According to the NBTC, improperly documented models included some J-Fone house brand models sold by Jay Mart, some Ama brand models of Media Infinity, and some house brands of TWZ.
Surin Amornchatchatwakul, managing director of Media Infinity, and Jay Mart chief executive officer Adisak Sukumvitaya said they would complaint against any revocation order. They say they applied for permits to import these devices in strict compliance with the regulations and that the testing documents were provided by the handset manufacturers.
They have to supply clarifications of their position to the NBTC to prevent any possible legal action by the watchdog.
Their complaint centres on the length of time the commission took to reconsider the import approvals, instead of examining the testing documents carefully before issuing the permits. In the meantime, most of the handsets in question have ceased to be imported or are no longer on the market.
The 280 models, totalling 970,000 units all, were produced by Chinese manufacturers.
The commission plans to publish in Royal Gazette that the importers must either destroy these handsets or ship them out of the country.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit said the 27 affected firms could appeal against the order within 15 days of receiving it.
The NBTC telecom committee resolved on June 20 to revoke the import permits for these 280 models after testing documents were found not to have been issued by the labs specified or were found to have been altered.
The watchdog had instructed its officials in March to investigate the documents, some dating back to 2009.
Companies that want to import mobile devices into Thailand need a permit from the NBTC. To obtain this, they must produce a document certifying that the device complies with international standards. Such documents are issued by internationally certified testing labs to the handset manufacturers.
Some importers said they had no idea the documents were fake, as they were provided by the handset manufacturers themselves.
The watchdog issues import permits for about 16 million handset units per year.
